The Disintegration of the Community: Why We Feel Alone Even When Surrounded By People

According to sociologist Robert Putnam in his classic book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of the American Community, our sense of community has significantly declined for the past half century.

A central concept throughout the book is the idea of “social capital,” which is defined as how strong a network of relationships is within a given community.

Communities that are high on social capital tend to be more trustworthy and cooperative. Neighbors talk to one another and help each other out more. And citizens are highly active in their schools, churches, and government institutions.

Communities that are low on social capital tend to be less trustworthy and cooperative. Neighbors don’t feel as connected with one another and are more skeptical of each other. And citizens are less active in their schools, churches, and government institutions, sometimes choosing to not participate in them at all.

Robert Putnam shares a plethora of research in the book showing how “social capital” has been on a steady decline since about the 1960s. As a whole, across all demographics, people vote less, go to church less, and are less likely to have each other over for dinner or attend community events.

The title “Bowling Alone” is in reference to the specific decline of bowling leagues over the past few decades. Bowling leagues have traditionally been a great way to build social bonds, create connections with your neighbors, and feel like you’re a part of your community.

These types of opportunities to build social capital within our communities seem to be growing less and less. Why?

How communities have disintegrated

First, let’s explore the many ways social capital has decreased over the past several decades, leading to weakened feelings of community and neighborliness:

• Political Participation – Americans in general are way less engaged in politics than they were several decades ago. Declines of political participation include less voting, less petition signing, less writing of letters to a political representative, less attending of political rallies, and less trust in government and politicians. The only significant increase in political participation was donations to politicians or organizations, but these don’t improve social capital much since they don’t create lasting group bonds. The internet has caused a recent spike in political participation too, but it still hasn’t made up for the loss of face-to-face political engagement that defined eras like the late 1960s and civil rights movement. The term “slacktivism” – a word for people who essentially only share political memes on Facebook and Tumblr – exists for a reason.
• Civic Participation – Membership in various civic and community based organizations like the Parents-Teachers Association, Boy Scouts, and Knights of Columbus has gone down. While more organizations exist than ever before, most of these “memberships” are based on paying dues and receiving a monthly newsletter. Even many who are listed as “members” don’t consider themselves members, because they never attend meetings or actually interact with any other members in the group. According to Putnam, “The bond between any two members of the National Wildlife Federation or the National Rifle Association is less like the bond between two members of a gardening club or prayer group and more like the bond between two Yankees fans on opposite coasts: they share some of the same interests, but they are unaware of each other’s existence.” There’s little feeling of community in that.
• Religious Participation – Over the past several decades, America has become increasingly more secular and less religious. Many whose parents were members of a church or synagogue no longer identify with the religion they were born into. While this can be seen as a healthy sign of free-thinking, it has also led to some devastating blows to community ties and social capital. Religion has always been one of the most effective ways to bond members of a community together. Many churches are very active in charity, volunteering, fundraisers, community events, etc. While many of us may feel we no longer need religion in our lives, we do lose a strong sense of self and community by not participating in our local churches.
  

• Altruism and Volunteering – The decline in religious participation is one reason for the decline in altruism, charity, and volunteering – as churches are a common motivator of altruism among citizens – but Putnam’s research also shows that altruism outside of religion has also been on a significant decline. Many people don’t actively seek out opportunities to help the less fortunate in their communities unless they are directly asked to by a charity or non-profit organization. Overall volunteering is down, even with simple things like giving blood, volunteer firefighting, or cleaning up the local community. Citizens just aren’t as invested in “giving back” to their community in the way they used to be.
  

• Trust and Honesty – Feelings of community can manifest themselves in all of the ways mentioned above (politics, civics, religion, altruism), but the bedrock to all of this is a general feeling of trust and honesty toward your fellow neighbors and local community. A neighborhood where most people are hesitant to help a stranger, or keep their doors unlocked, or even say “hi” to a neighbor is a “low trust” community that is bound to feel a bit isolating and alienating. It’s hard to get a sense of community if you have to constantly look over your shoulder. Surveys show that Americans generally feel much less trustworthy of their neighbors than they did in the past. This is especially shown in places where crime rates are high and litigation is common. The growth of lawyers over the past few decades is a huge sign that people are less willing to resolve disputes with their community outside of the law.

All of these are symptoms of a decline in social capital and a lack of community feelings. Some of these areas in life have declined more than others, but Putnam’s research shows that in general there have been disintegrations of community ties in almost every area of life. And most Americans feel it, even when they can’t exactly pinpoint why they feel the way they do.

Why are our communities in decline?

The next obvious question to ask ourselves is, “Why are our communities in decline?”

Robert Putnam dedicates a whole section in the book trying to untangle the many influences that may be contributing to this decline in community.

Of course, it’s difficult to pinpoint what the causes are of community decline vs. the byproduct of community decline. For example, is a rise in crime rates a cause of a lack of community feeling and distrust, or is it the lack of community feeling that can lead to increases in crime rates? In sociology, this “chicken and egg” problem is a common dilemma.

However, Putnam does a very thorough job trying to decipher some of the key causes that have led to this decrease in social capital in our communities. Some of these factors include:

• Mobility and Sprawl – One big reason we spend less time with each other is due to how mobile we have become. In the past, people often worked in close proximity to their community and neighborhood, but nowadays it’s not uncommon to work in an area that is completely different than your home. For example, a suburban who travels into the city everyday for work can become disconnected to their local neighborhood which they now spend much less time in. In fact, Americans spend a huge chunk of their time in their cars now, even just sitting in traffic. Cars have become a popular place for solitude, and many even look forward to car drives as a form of “alone time.”
  

• Family Structure and Time – Social changes have also had an impact on the decline of social capital and community. Women, who are typically more civically engaged than men (especially in middle age), are now entering the workforce and have much less time and energy to devote to community activities like joining the Parents-Teachers Association, or having neighbors over for dinner, or volunteering their time to local causes. While the advancements women have made in the workforce is laudable, Putnam estimates that it explains roughly 5-10% of the decline in social capital over the past several decades.
• Technology and Mass Media – Technology is also a form of progress that has had unintended consequences on social capital and decline in community. Those who say that television is their main form of entertainment are the least likely to be involved in their communities (interestingly, this trend doesn’t follow for those who watch television for news). Many Americans prefer to spend their weekends at home watching TV, rather than going over to a friend’s house, or going out to a restaurant, or going to local shows like concerts and movies. The internet has shown some promise in building social capital, but it hasn’t made up for these losses in community involvement. I’m willing to bet that cellphones too can become a way that we “disengage” from our community – even when we are actually out in public with friends and family, many spend a huge portion of their evenings staring at their phones.
  

• Generational Differences – The single greatest predictor of civic engagement is what year you were born in. Older generations are significantly more involved in their communities at every age level vs. younger generations like boomers (born between late 1940s-1960s) and X’ers (born between late 1960s-1980s). Millennials (born between 1980s-2000s) have a shown a small uptick in community involvement compared to their parents at their age, but they are no match for the generations that came in the first two-thirds of the 20th century. These generational differences could be due to changes in culture, political attitudes, and changing demographics over the past several decades, but again the causes of these differences can be hard to untangle.

So why do we feel so alone now, even when surrounded by people? It’s not in your head – it turns out that there is a real measurable change in community engagement and social capital leading up to the 21st century.

Bowling Alone is a very thorough breakdown of the many ways our communities are falling apart, but it’s not all gloom and doom. There are some positive findings to be optimistic about, like the rise of the internet and more community-engaged millennials.

There aren’t any quick and easy solutions for building a better community. But one thing is for sure: it’s going to require time and effort from all of us, including you and me.

Unless we take active steps as individuals to reinitiate back into our communities and take a more community-oriented mindset (whether it’s starting a book club, joining a political organization, or volunteering to clean up your local park), we may continue to see declines in our community engagement.

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